Sophia took a tour of the New York Harbor, catching glimpses of her favorite sites before returning home to Kansas City afterwards.

JJJ had the chance to speak with Sophia before she left and just like us, she wants to rid everyone’s minds about one particular misconception about pageants and the people who compete in them.

“The misconception that beauty pageant winners are just beautiful and don’t have any other substance to them,” is her number one.

Sophia tells us, “I really love the direction that the Miss Universe organization is going in where they are focusing not only on the exterior but the interior as well. These girls have passions and causes that they care about and they’re intelligent and kind, wonderful people on the inside and out.”

She adds, “I can personally attain to the amount of intelligence that our Miss USA has — I mean, she’s a nuclear scientist. She is an incredible role model, not only for me, but a lot of other girls out there. Our Miss Universe is wanting to be a dental surgeon.”

“These are really, really incredible women who are making a difference in the world and I think that’s amazing.”